Supporting the individual to engage with compression therapy

In life we can determine what choices we make, from the way in which we dress and appear, to what we choose to say, or not to say. However, there are things we cannot choose, which may be due to genetics, such as biological sex, or the ageing process, and these may put some at more risk of developing certain conditions (Cooper-Stanton, 2020a). When choices are forced on a person, such as the development of a long-term condition (LTC), the impact of this goes beyond the physical presentation (Cooper-Stanton, 2019). Lymphoedema, as a category within the umbrella term of chronic oedema, is an LTC that leads to the development of oedema in any part of the body, with some related to specific events in someone's life (Rankin, 2016). For example, secondary lymphoedema is related to breast cancer and its treatment. These are the choices that someone did not intend to make.